


"So you can be nice after all."

by sky_fish



Category: Arashi (Band)
Genre: Gen, High School AU, Manga club, nerds
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-06-17
Updated: 2016-06-17
Packaged: 2018-07-15 16:30:22
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,822
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/7230079
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/sky_fish/pseuds/sky_fish
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Ohno, Aiba and Nino are members of the manga club at school and use to hang out together in their tiny nerdy club room almost every day after classes. When spring comes, Aiba's hay fever comes along, his sneezing annoying the hell out of his friends.</p>
            </blockquote>





	"So you can be nice after all."

**Author's Note:**

> **Disclaimer:** I do not own any of the participating characters in this fic, just my imagination and even this got fueled by other people in this case. Written for entertainment purpose only.
> 
>  **Author’s note:**  
>  Written on request by akhikaru with the keyword "hay fever" for my spring ficlet challenge 2016. Thanks for the inspiration, I hope you like the result! :D Thanks to my dear half-brain wendyjoly and my precious beta jtaytt!  
> Oh... and please also count this as my Ninobirthdayfic for this year, everyone! Happy Ninoday and Happy Birthday, Kazu!  
> ~(.^-^)~ ♥

Once classes over, the students of Kitagawa All Male High School could be found spread everywhere over the schoolyard. There were after school club activities for literally everything. Sports club on masse, the most popular are primarily baseball, judo, soccer and volleyball, just to name a few, but also clubs for every other interest that someone could have. It had to be noted, though, that Kitagawa High School's pupils were mostly interested in either sports or "highly intellectual" activities like classical music, literature, drama or – yes – gourmet cooking.

The most popular elite students were setting good examples and would surely be proud after graduation to be able to put so many additional activities onto their CV. Even if just as good references and to show how they were willing to work hard, attending numerous clubs besides achieving their first class grades. Student Counsel President, Sakurai Sho for example, everybody's idol, was holding a record of 5 club activities, including music, debate, soccer, literature and kyudo, while the second model student, Matsumoto Jun, wasn't only the head of the drama club but also the school's best cook.

However, there was a tiny little clubroom hidden in an old, unused storage room underneath the stairs, stuffed with shelves, a couple of tables and a small used couch. The few visible walls were plastered with posters. There was just enough space for housing about three people, if they squeezed a little, but it was the precious base of one specific club, and after dusting and cleaning it at the beginning of the school year, it was enough for the members. The room hosted a club dedicated to something that would definitely not be identified as _prestige_ , at least not to the school's and the students' understanding.

Its members were not interested in any of the above-mentioned clubs (or they were just not good enough to make it into the respective sports teams of preference). So the three guys – well known as the school's biggest weirdoes, called "The Nerd Trio" - gathered and formed their own club. There, they devoted all of their spare time to their favourite hobby – manga and in particular, they were trying to achieve their ultimate goal of creating their _own real manga_. 

The club's most important member, Ohno Satoshi – or "Oh-chan", as his few friends called him lovingly - acted as the main manga artist, producing breath-taking pictures with his unique drawing style. Initially he was part of the arts club, but it turned out that his style of art wasn't recognized and was too special for the elite members to give their approval. He dropped out very soon and was hanging out alone in the schoolyard after classes, underneath some trees, doodling into his sketchbooks, until another student found him, and persuaded him to join his newly founded club.

That student was none other than the manga club's president Ninomiya Kazunari, called "Nino", the _brain_ of the team, in charge of the various stories on which Ohno's drawings were based. Too lazy to be properly involved in the drawing process himself (and probably not talented enough), he focused on plotting the stories of the club's manga and scribbling rough storyboards that Ohno used as the basis for his manga pages, initiating the layout and text positions. For the rest of the time spent in their little nerdy clubroom, Nino was reading manga after manga, using "research to get inspiration" for new projectsit as an excuse. 

Finally yet importantly, there was also Aiba Masaki, "Aiba-chan", boy for everything. Literally. His _jobs_ included getting drinks for the club members, assisting Ohno with preparing his manga pages with screen tones, and going to the printing shop to get copies of their manga for the next manga convention where he would sit at a small booth and try to sell them with his loud joyful voice. Sometimes, he also went shopping for new manga. Or he simply massaged Nino's feet for hours, even if he knew that the other got him to do this in first place in order to tease him and not because he really needed it. However, Aiba quickly found out that Nino actually enjoyed his massages so he never complained and kept on giving them to his friend, with a happy smile on his face when he saw the other relax, in spite of calling him a lousy amateur.

Frankly said, the relationship between Nino and Aiba was a bit strange. Well, maybe because Nino's relationships with _everyone_ were a bit strange. Not essentially in a bad way, but it was hard to figure somehow. While most people found the guy mysterious and not easy to approach, hence when _he_ was the one approaching someone, it was something special. Even if he wasn't exactly _nice_ , according to most people's opinions. 

Nino's relationship with Ohno for example was a whole mystery by itself. The two of them were able to spend days without talking to each other at all but it wasn't like they were showing each other a cold shoulder. It felt like they were communicating in some way nobody else could understand. As if they could _read each other's minds_ , Aiba once tried to capture it in words. 

Nino even managed to _befriend_ student counsel Sakurai Sho (which led to their club being supported and finally accepted at school despite its low prestige level and the few members) and nobody knew how. Some voices said, Nino bribed Sho by treating him to his favourite restaurant (and Nino treating someone with his own money was as rare as a five-leaved clover), others rumoured that he threatened him. Aiba had to admit that he could imagine both options being true.

However, back to Aiba and Nino. People from outside would possibly describe their relationship as an owner-slave relationship, pitying Aiba for being kicked around by Nino as if he was his personal slave. Aiba, though, he saw Nino as his good friend, maybe his _best_ friend, even if Nino was grumpy, assertive and didn't really show any signs of being caring about his _friends_. Aiba, with the positive nature he possessed, was firmly convinced that Nino was one of the good guys and that he was only hiding his true feelings underneath his rough shell. He wouldn't have asked them to join his club and he wouldn't bother to spend a large amount of time together with them otherwise, right? 

Probably, Aiba only had to wait for evidence for his theory and surprisingly, on that beautiful, fateful spring day, he found it.

It was a day like every other day. The sun was shining and the birds were singing. Sakurai and the other elite students were busy following their prestige interests, like the soccer match of which the cheering could be heard everywhere. Far from the scenery, Nino and Ohno were sitting in their small storage room, jokingly called the _"Nerd Cave"_ by the other students, working on their latest project. 

Ohno, his pen dipped in black ink, was bending over his table, working on lining panels and bringing the characters of Nino's story to life. The constant scratching noise that filled the room somehow had a calming effect. It was almost peaceful.

That was, until Aiba - in high spirit as usual - barged into the manga clubroom just a few minutes later, bringing along two bags of newly bought manga. Of course like always, he had to pay for them, although it was an open secret that in most cases eventually they would disappear in Nino's bag ("Research material!") and never be seen again. 

"Fresh supplies," Aiba chirped, now, busy with stapling the manga volumes to present them to his club members, curious of what they would think about his _choice of the month_. 

However, just when Nino came along to eye them, with the excitement he tried to hide shining in his eyes to the others' amusement, Aiba got attacked by a brutal wave of sneezing, making him incapable of controlling his limbs. In the end, he knocked the piles of manga over, and they landed on Nino's toes, making the other yelp.

"Idiot, watch out!" Nino grumbled, slumping down on the couch and checking his slightly hurting toes. 

It wasn't like manga were that heavy but his toeless slippers didn't prevent him from feeling the pain, obviously. Aiba immediately knelt down, offering Nino to look at his feet and massage them as an apology, but as soon as he pulled off Nino's socks, he sneezed again - all over Nino's foot.

"Ugh…," was everything that Nino was able to pronounce with a disgusted look on his face before he shoved his wet foot into Aiba's face, retreated and reached for a nearby roll of toilet paper – used by Ohno in the drawing process – to clean the mess. "Go annoy Oh-chan, Aibaka…"

Aiba didn't even pout, he was used to his friend's grumpy attitude and it couldn't get to him at all anymore. And so he did as he was told and approached Ohno from behind to watch over him working on the latest pages for their new manga. As always, Aiba's eyes widened in astonishment as he watched Ohno's pen sliding over the flat white surface smoothly, the black ink breaking the white dominance to tell the character's stories. Excitedly, Aiba leaned a bit closer. Ohno didn't move, as usual, he was completely drowned in his task, focusing so hard that he didn't notice how his jaw was sticking out a bit and he was frowning in concentration. Usually at this state, nothing could pull Ohno out of his trance-like state…

"Oh-chan, shall I help you with the screen tones? I can – ACHOO!"

Well, nothing besides a super loud, super distracting sneeze by Aiba and the catastrophe that followed. In the sneezing process Aiba's body twitched and unintentionally he knocked over a bottle of ink Ohno was using to line his sketches at the moment, and of course, it spilled all over the page, covering it in deep, dark, irremovable Black. 

"Oh gosh…" 

Shocked, Aiba clasped his hands in front of his mouth, his eyes widened in shock as he looked at the painfully deformed face of the budding manga artist who has frozen in shock, his pen still in his hand and his eyes glued on the mess in front of him.

"Oh shit," Nino's voice could be heard from the couch, before the student went back to his manga and his notebook to scribble something down, pretending that nothing happened. 

It was a well-known fact that Ohno was shy and quiet, that he wasn't chatty at all, not even with his friends, and that he was famous for being someone who couldn't be stressed easily. Well, that's all true but the fact was all these wouldn’t apply when it had to do with his art because in this case, he could be unimaginably passionate. Aiba was still staring blankly at Ohno, preparing for the worst to happen, and even Nino glimpsed at them again from his safe position on the couch.

"I can't believe it… I can't believe it… everything's black, everything's ruined," Ohno started murmuring in shock, his voice was still low, his eyes still focused on the page in front of him, but it was just the prelude for the storm, the tight grip or Ohno's hand around his pen which almost broke it, was proof of it. And then, the student snapped. He turned his head to face Aiba, looking as angry as the other had never seen him before and instinctively, Aiba took a step back, as if this could save him…. "Aiba-chan, you IDIOT! Look what you did!"

"I'm sorry, Oh-chan, really," the younger student started, holding his hands – smeared with snot by the way – up in innocence.

Ohno groaned frustrated, clenching his pen for a last time before he dropped it and reached to pick up the now half empty bottle of ink. He made some angry noises but if someone looked closely enough, it was obvious that the young artist was trying hard to supress his tears from spilling. He then reached for the roll of toilet paper that was standing close, and tried to soak up the spilled liquid.

Guilty, Aiba tried to offer his help but Ohno just pushed him away slightly.

"I'm so sorry, Oh-chan, I didn't mean to…," Aiba apologized again, even if he knew that now, at least for a while, Ohno would be mad at him, no matter what he did. He then turned away for another heavy sneeze, finding his nose running even more. "Ugh…," he looked at his hands, disgusted. "Sorry, but does someone have a tissue maybe?"

"Use the toilet paper," Ohno grumbled, throwing said item at his friend, as he was jumping up. Yes, it was rare to see him worked up like that but if something happened to his work, he could get extremely sensitive. "I'm going home for today. Have to buy some new drawing supplies on my way."

"Take care," Nino murmured from behind his manga, not even lifting his head.

"Do you want me to go buy the new stuff, Oh-chan?" Aiba offered desperately, his face stuffed with toilet paper, but Ohno ignored him. "I really can –"

"See you tomorrow," the oldest cut his friend's sentence and before heading out of the room, he shot Aiba a last angry look.

Sighing, Aiba hanged his shoulders and dropped on the couch next to Nino. He leaned against the backrest, resting his head and looking up to the ceiling, until he considered it as a bad idea since the annoying snot was starting running down his throat, causing him to cough like crazy. This was disgusting, he thought miserably.

"I'm such an idiot…," Aiba murmured after cleaning his nose again with a piece of toilet paper.

"You are," Nino stated nonchalantly, stabbing Aiba's heart even more. "But don't worry," he then added in a softer voice. "He won't be mad at you anymore tomorrow."

Aiba looked at his friend, who still focused on his manga and appreciating Nino's attempt to calm him down. He just hummed agreeing. He was still feeling horrible about his action, it's unforgivable to ruin one of Ohno's pages, but nevertheless, just like Nino, Aiba knew exactly that Ohno wouldn't be mad at him any longer tomorrow, that's how nice of a guy their friend was.

However, this didn't make his feeling of guilt disappear, no, to the contrary, it got worse. And so, Aiba got up again and sat down at Ohno's table, examining the mess he created. There was ink splashed everywhere over the page, the worst damage was on the upper left corner, a huge stain of black covering more than a quarter of the page. Aiba reached for the already half used up roll of toilet paper again – wiping his running nose first – to try saving what he could possibly save, but it was useless. Crap… 

It was then, when he got struck with another flash of sneezes, filling the whole room with his loud voice again. "ACHOO!"

And again. "ACHOOO!!"

And again. "ACHOOOO!!!"

And when he sneezed once again, Nino snapped, sitting up straight at his spot on the couch, completely pulled out of his focused mind-set, his manga and notebook abandoned and an annoyed look on his face that he shot into his friend's direction.

"Aiba, seriously, can you just shut up please?! I can't concentrate on plotting!" Nino grumped, frowning.

Aiba blinked at him, his lips slightly pursed. But it wasn't enough to keep him from sneezing. "I'm sorr – ACHOOO!" he wiped his nose again. "It's not like I'm doing this on purpose, you know?"

"Are you sick or what?" Nino arched an eyebrow, still looking annoyed.

"No, it's just the pollen," Aiba explained. "I forgot to take my hay fever medicine in the morning. I'm sneezing the whole day and I already ran out of tissues..." Nino must be happy now that they weren't in the same class, the student thought.

"Idiot," Nino snorted. "There shouldn't be any pollen in this room that you could possibly react too."

Aiba frowned. "Unfortunately, it's not so easy…"

Nino sighed, rubbing his neck. At least, he seemed to understand, Aiba thought. Somehow. But it didn't mean that he approved of the situation. 

"Great," Nino said ironically, just before he jumped up from the couch. He packed his stuff into his backpack and as he approached the tiny clubroom's door, Aiba called out for him.

"Nino, what… where are you going?" he asked, even if he could feel the rejection lingering in the air already and when Nino just shot another annoyed look at his friend, rolling his eyes, Aiba knew that the other was going home. Just like that. Leaving him behind all alone. Because he _sneezed_. Great. "Nino…"

Again, Aiba sneezed and now, even he himself had enough of this shit. He sighed deeply, taking another piece of toilet paper to clean his face properly and then he laid back down on the couch – which was actually too small, to give him enough space to lie down – to rest. He laid his head on the armrest and grabbed the one and only pillow lying on the couch – the one Nino usually used because he thought that as the club president, he had the right to use the only pillow and no one bothered to bring another – to cuddle. He cursed inwardly. 

This was a really bad day. First, he was feeling bad due to his allergy. Then, he ruined Ohno's drawing, then he annoyed Nino and now he was lying here all alone, sulking. He could go home, sure, to take some medicine and his damned hay fever would become better but right now, he didn't feel like getting up. He was exhausted and depressed. This stupid allergy had scared away his friends! Unbelievable! He could just rest here for a while before going back home, he thought, closing his eyes.

Aiba wasn't sure if he fell asleep for a few minutes or how much time passed, when he heard a clicking noise in his half-sleep mode and shortly after felt something wet and cold pressing against his cheek. Shocked, he sat up, widely awake again in an instant. Nino was kneeling in front of the couch, his backpack still on his shoulders, a can of coke and a small bag in his hands. Aiba's smile returned.

"You're back?" he asked happily, beaming at his friend. So he didn't abandon him! After all, they were friends, right?

"Here," Nino said, his look lowered as he shoved the coke and the small bag into Aiba's hands. "Take this."

Confused, the other took the stuff that his friend handed him. "What's these?"

"Coke, obviously," Nino replied, "And hay fever medicine."

"What? Where did you get it from?"

Nino still didn't look at Aiba but stood up, taking off his backpack and sat back down on the couch again, of course with _his_ pillow, next to Aiba. He shrugged. "I saw Matsumoto taking some the other day and remembered how he told some girls from the college nearby about his allergy and... there was some left so..."

Aiba's heart suddenly felt all warm and cosy and he felt his eyes becoming a bit teary – and no, this time it wasn't because of his allergy. "So you can be nice after all…"

There was a slight hint of a blush on Nino's face. "If you consider stealing as _nice_?" 

Aiba gasped. "You didn't ask him for permission to take it?!"

Nino gave him the arched eyebrows and an innocent shrug. "He wasn't there."

"So you _borrowed_ it without asking," Aiba nodded with a frowning look, trying to convince himself that Nino wasn't a real _thief_.

"…Whatever," the other rolled his eyes while he pulled out his manga and notebook again to resume working.

Aiba looked at him, grinning. "You're still nice, you know?"

"You have an interesting definition of that word," Nino murmured as he scribbled something into his notebook.

"You did it for me. That makes it nice," Aiba flashed a smile at him and then, his friend finally looked at him for a second. 

"I just couldn't bear your annoying sneezing any longer," the student grumbled.

Yes, there was definitely a blush on Nino's cheeks, Aiba noted, smiling. This was satisfying enough for him. It was the proof for Aiba that Nino was the nice guy he always knew he was. When he blushed, it must mean that Nino had done something nice and was just hiding his true feelings about it. 

"You could have gone outside to read. Or home," Aiba continued, trying to bring this conversation to a new level. Maybe he could actually get his friend to _admit_ that he was a nice guy.

"It's our club room and we're supposed to read and draw manga here together after school," Nino stated facts, instead of following Aiba's prompting. "I just obeyed our club rules."

"So strict…," Aiba murmured, almost giving up on his plan. He sneezed again. "But you know, I think you're just pretending. You _want_ to be here. That's really cute of you. You didn't want to leave me alone, right?"

"Shut up now and take the fucking medicine!" Nino deathglared at his friend, ignoring his question.

Aiba grinned. "Roger, President!" and finally obeyed.

"Now lay down again and rest," Nino continued in a strict voice and he even tried to make a little more space on the tiny couch for his friend. When Aiba somehow managed to squeeze himself next to Nino, the other looked at him again, holding out the manga he was reading toward his friend. "You want to read it? It's really good, I think you'll like it."

Astonished, Aiba couldn't prevent his hand from reaching out automatically, taking the manga. "Thank you! I thought you haven't finished it yet."

Nin averted his eyes. "I can finish it next time. You need anything else? Something to eat maybe?"

"Oh my gosh, now your friendliness is getting creepy, Nino!" Aiba chuckled. "What's next, are you going to massage my feet or what?"

Another death glare. "Don't overdo it."

Aiba's smile vanished. "OK. I shut up."

"Want some sweets?"

There the smile was back again. "Yes, please!"

"I'll be right back."

\- - -

Just a few minutes later when Nino was strolling through the school's corridors to find a snack vending machine, he passed by the classroom in which the baseball club seemed to be changing after their practice. He didn't really pay attention, until he heard a familiar voice speaking to his team.

"Hey… did someone see a small bag in my backpack? My medicine is supposed to be in there…"

"No, sorry, I have no idea," another voice replied.

"Eh? Impossible, did I leave them at home?"

"Maybe?"

Matsumoto sneezed and Nino started running.

**THE END ******


End file.
